sdThousands of people greeted the dawn with cheers and applause at Stonehenge on Saturday as they marked the winter solstice. Those who observed the spectacle at the neolithic monument in Wiltshire encountered a windy morning as they marked the shortest day of the year.more

Weather warnings for strong winds have come into force in parts of the UK as millions of people travel ahead of Christmas. Motoring experts are predicting this will be the busiest weekend of travel of the year, with the RAC warning it could be a "pretty exhausting experience" and urging drivers to "be patient". more

Ugandan Deo Kato is completing his 516-day run from Cape Town to London, the Guardian newspaper reported. The athlete covered 12,440 kilometres to raise awareness about racism and the plight of migrants crossing the route from Africa to Europe. He will be greeted by crowds of runners in the British capital tomorrow.more

A huge illegal car park near Heathrow Airport will be ripped out after more than 300 vehicles were found on green belt land. Hundreds of cars illegally parked on a privately owned site on Manse Close, around 10 minutes from the UK’s busiest airport, were discovered by Hillingdon Council following complaints from residents.more

The damage from Brexit to trade links with the EU cost the UK £27bn in the first two years, but the overall impact was more limited than forecasters first estimated, according to the most comprehensive review of the issue since Britain fully left the bloc at the start of 2021.more

Journalists and legal bloggers are to be allowed to report on family court cases across England and Wales from early next year. Transparency will no longer be restricted to pilot courts and will be permanent.more

The typical water bill will rise by an average of £86 from April for a year before easing, the industry regulator has said. The steep rise is part of bill increases in England and Wales over the next five years to pay for supply upgrades and to reduce sewage discharges, Ofwat said.more

In 2024, scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, described a total of 172 new plant and fungal species, among which they selected the 10 most interesting. Some of the newly discovered species have already been given endangered status, highlighting that the global loss of biodiversity is a pressing problem.more

More than 100 dangerous dogs a month on average have been destroyed since XL bullies were banned nearly a year ago, the BBC has learned. Police forces in England and Wales say the costs of kennelling thousands of seized dogs, often for months at a time, have risen sixfold to £25m a year and many facilities were at capacity.more

There has been "a catastrophic rise" in deaths caused solely by alcohol in England over the past four years, government figures suggest. More than 8,200 people died because of alcohol in 2023 - a 42% rise on 2019 - with the North East having the highest rates.more

The new boss of the Body Shop has told staff the struggling ethical beauty retailer is “back for good” after it booked a profit in its first 100 days under new ownership.more

London, with its myriad of train stations and bus stops, is a city that's easy to navigate for both locals and tourists. Despite the occasional moan about delays or overcrowding, the transport system is generally a reliable alternative to driving.more

The UK inflation rate has gone up for the second month in a row, with prices rising at their fastest pace since March. Inflation hit 2.6% in the year to November, according to official figures. Fuel and clothing were among the main drivers behind the rise. Increasing ticket prices for gigs and plays were also a factor.more

UK businesses are cutting staff numbers at the fastest rate since the global financial crisis, according to a closely watched business survey blaming the government’s tax-raising budget.more

A 34-year-old Polish woman Aleksabdra Urbanska from London has been missing since the 20th of October.more

The United Kingdom will send a £225 million ($286 million) military aid package to Ukraine, focusing on bolstering its navy and air defense capabilities.more

While we’re busy planning what to do with our leftovers, we might lose track of other important things – like how much Baileys we have left in the cupboard after Christmas Day. We all know that copious amounts of food and drink, sandwiches, pigs in blankets, bubble and squeak, and turkey are consumed around the holidays.more

More than 6m homes in England are at risk of flooding under the latest climate projections, a study by the Environment Agency has found. This could rise to 8m – or one in four properties – by 2050, the study said.more

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in a telephone conversation with US President-elect Donald Trump, stressed that allies must stand together to support Ukraine, the British prime minister's office said in a statement yesterday evening.more

Dust levels on the Victoria line are the worst on the London Underground, having more than trebled in the last year. An independent study found that average concentrations of “respirable dust” – which can penetrate down deep into the lungs – detected in drivers’ cabs had increased from 0.13 to 0.43 mg/m3 (milligrams per cubic metre).more

Donation website GoFundMe has named as the UK’s most generous city in 2024. According to the site’s data Liverpool is number one after its response to the Southport stabbings and subsequent disorder.more

Keir Starmer’s plan to bring down UK net migration by improving domestic training and skills is not guaranteed to work, the government’s independent advisers have concluded. The migration advisory committee also said that the average migrant who comes to the UK on a skilled worker visa contributes 20 times more than the average UK-born adult.more

Police were unprepared for the scale of disorder that broke out in part of the UK following the Southport knife attacks, a police watchdog has found. Police intelligence did not predict the "rising tide of violent disorder well enough", according to the review of their response to the worst UK unrest in more than a decade.more

Exposure to air pollution is linked to an increased risk of hospital admission for mental illness, according to the most comprehensive study of its kind. The research, involving more than 200,000 people in Scotland, found an increase in exposure to nitrogen dioxide in particular was associated with a higher number of people being admitted to hospital for behaviour disorders and mental illnesses.more

The government and regulators have broken the law by being too lenient on water companies that spill sewage, the UK's environment watchdog has found. The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) said sewage releases should only be allowed in exceptional circumstances, such as during unusually heavy rainfall, but that "this has not always been the case".more